West was criticised for a line referencing Swift in ‘Famous’, where he rapped: “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous.” Speaking about the controversial lyric at the time, West said that Swift consented to its inclusion in a phone call. His wife Kim Kardashian later released a video that appeared to support West.

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Now Kardashian has taken to Twitter, in the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic, to express her frustration over the claims and denied “illegal recordings”.

In a series of posts on Twitter, she wrote: “[Taylor Swift] has chosen to reignite an old exchange – that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now.”

.@taylorswift13 has chosen to reignite an old exchange – that at this point in time feels very self-serving given the suffering millions of real victims are facing right now.

She continued: “I didn’t feel the need to comment a few days ago, and I’m actually really embarrassed and mortified to be doing it right now, but because she continues to speak on it, I feel I’m left without a choice but to respond because she is actually lying.”

She added: “To be clear, the only issue I ever had around the situation was that Taylor lied through her publicist who stated that ‘Kanye never called to ask for permission…’ They clearly spoke so I let you all see that. Nobody ever denied the word ‘bitch’ was used without her permission.

“At the time when they spoke the song had not been fully written yet, but as everyone can see in the video, she manipulated the truth of their actual conversation in her statement when her team said she ‘declined and cautioned him about releasing a song with such a strong misogynistic message.’

This will be the last time I speak on this because honestly, nobody cares.

Sorry to bore you all with this. I know you are all dealing with more serious and important matters.

“The lie was never about the word bitch, It was always whether there was a call or not and the tone of the conversation. I never edited the footage (another lie) – I only posted a few clips on Snapchat to make my point and the full video that recently leaked doesn’t change the narrative.

“To add, Kanye as an artist has every right to document his musical journey and process, just like she recently did through her documentary. Kanye has documented the making of all of his albums for his personal archive, however has never released any of it for public consumption & the call between the two of them would have remained private or would have gone in the trash had she not lied & forced me to defend him.

“This will be the last time I speak on this because honestly, nobody cares. Sorry to bore you all with this. I know you are all dealing with more serious and important matters.”

This comes as Swift responded to the leak on her Instagram stories: “Instead of answering those who are asking how I feel about the video footage that leaked, proving that I was telling the truth the whole time about *that call* (you know, the one that was illegally recorded, that somebody edited and manipulated in order to frame me and put me, my family, and fans through hell for 4 years)… SWIPE up to see what really matters.”

Kanye West and Taylor Swift – Credit: Getty

Swiping up then led to a donation page for the Feeding America non-profit organisation.

Swift wrote in a separate post: “The World Health Organisation and Feeding America are some of the organisations I’ve been donating to. If you have the ability to, please join me in donating during this crisis. Swipe up.”

The two stars have had a tumultuous friendship over the years, with West famously interrupting Swift’s speech at the 2009 MTV VMAs.

In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Swift said she was “done” with the rapper after thinking they had overcome their rift. “I started to feel like we reconnected, which felt great for me because all I ever wanted my whole career after that thing happened in 2009 was for him to respect me,” she said.

In a four-star review of Swift’s last album, NME said: “To call ‘Lover’ a comeback feels like a reach considering that ‘Reputation’, her lowest-selling album to date, still went triple Platinum in the US. So let’s just say that the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now – ‘cause she’s busy writing songs that suit her again.”